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Favourites: vinyl playback

Our favourites, plus the dealer picks

By AudioEnz staff

August 2004

Rega P3 $1000

From the Rega Planar 3 from the 1970s through to the recently revised version that Rega dubbed the P3, there’s always been a Rega turntable that can easily be recommended. The P3 comes complete with one of the best tonearms available in the RB300, with its ground-breaking continuous casting. You can expect a lively and dynamic sound from a P3, which pulls more information off an album than it has any right to. The P3/RB300 is set up for the shallow Rega cartridges. Users of other cartridges can add spacers to the bottom of the RB300 to suit other cartridges. The P3 is normally available in black but, as can be seen in the picture, can come in other colours.

Project RPM-9 $2299

Enthusiastically reviewed by Brent Burmester last year, this turntable/tonearm combo features striking good looks and superb sound quality. The motor is kept separate from the minimalist MDF plinth, while your records sit on top of a massive acrylic platter. The cartridge is held by a carbon fibre tonearm. “The Project also distinguished  itself with a more fluid and agile bass and a stronger understanding  of pace, rhythm and timing,” said Brent Burmester, adding that “the RPM-9  represents great material and  sonic value for money.” AudioEnz review

Shure V15 VxMR $650

“One of the first things I noticed was the midrange neutrality. This wasn't just a technological neutrality but one of considerable ease and naturalness,” said reviewer Simon Brown, who also praised the detail retrieval of this cartridge. The latest version of the venerable Shure V15 has many benefits irrespective of sound quality. It’s affordable and replacement styli are plentiful (there’s a lot of cartridges you can’t say that about). Most importantly, the Shure V15 tracks cleanly, which means less damage to your precious vinyl. AudioEnz review

What the dealers say

Peter Munt, Eastern Hi-Fi, Newmarket

After a long time in this biz and being a vinyl junkie it is nice to see a few good turntables still on the market. However not all the buying public share the purist view of vinyl and the equipment to play it on so it is great to see some really nice entry level turntables on the market for not a lot of dosh

Goldring GR1 $699

The first of the products I would like to talk about is the new Goldring GR1 turntable complete with the Goldring Electra cartridge ($699). The similarity to a Rega 2 is not coincidental as this beasty is made by Rega for Goldring, it does not however have the same quality of motor, bearing or tone arm bearings. This aside, after a good play with this machine I was impressed. A little set up and check the alignment of the cartridge (your dealer should do this for you as part of the service) and you’re off. My first impressions of this unit was its finish, a little different from the usual plain turntable, with its grey finish and moulding around the plinth it looks great. When I fired it up I was impressed as this is not an expensive unit but the combination with the Electra cartridge works well, a nice soundstage, good speed and dynamics, but not bright at all, good bass weight and a general sense of musicallity (after all that’s what it is all about isn't it?). You can experiment with different cartridges as the rb250 tonearm will do justice to some good front ends. A fantastic buy for the vinyl nut on a budget, it’s a well made, good looking, value for money table with the ability to carry you further if the addiction gets too bad

Project RPM6 $1399

Although it has an unusual look, do not be put off as this new age crockpot with a tonearm on the side is a serious piece of kit. The base of the unit is quite small with the usual belt drive motor driving a smaller conventional bearing assembly. That’s about as conventional as it gets as the larger plinth (the bit that looks like the afore-mentioned crockpot) fitting into a brass dry bearing assembly. The plinth is made of mdf and has a nylon top to it, the idea being all the different resonant frequencies of the various interconnected parts cancel each other out (must work as this unit is simply amazing). I put a Goldring 1012gx cartridge ($349) on and as I have used this cartridge a lot and fitted it to many turntables. I must say that this combination was stunning. The dynamics were fantastic, punchy extended bass - not at all bloated - great pace, rhythm and spot on timing, really musical. There’s a sense of depth in the reproduction usually found on much more expensive units. As I know the cartridge well it is definitely the RPM6 making the difference here!

I have had the privilege to own some pretty high end platenspeilers in my time but this was for me the best hi end mid price hi-fi bargain I have encountered. Don’t worry about the odd look – it’s different, it’s stylish and dead sexy. Put yourself out of your misery and buy one. I think I can find room in my collection for one of these…

John Vivian, Shore Hi-Fi, Auckland

Rega P2 $800, Rega Super Bias cartridge $175

This Rega combination offers fantastic value. Introduced back in 1973, the original Rega Planar 2 has evolved into today’s P2, with little or no shift price since inception.

Renown for simplicity and solid engineering, (particularly in regards to Rega tone arms), Rega went on to be the most popular (budget) turntables available in the UK. One of the best aspects of Rega turntables is their lack of fuss, ie mount the cartridge, set on a level surface, and enjoy great sound for years. No having to re-align suspension, tweak this and that to maintain performance.

Rega P3 $1000, Rega Elys cartridge $250

Providing a similar specification to the Rega P2, but with a more substantial platter and higher spec tone arm (RB300), this combination is what many class as “Budget audiophile” performance. The notable difference between the P2 & P3 designs is lack of surface noise and substantially more information off the record. Also of benefit is the ability to take a wide variety of upmarket cartridges due to a more accurate engineering of the tone arm. Rega cartridges are manufactured by hand, and are constructed from a polymer called “Pocan”, which is harder than industrial aluminium. Note Rega cartridges are all moving magnet designs.

Rega P5 $1995, optional P5 power supply $475, Rega Super Elys cartridge $475

The P5 is a result of Regas’ years of research and refinement. Much of the technology has been borrowed from the P9 turntable ($6500). The introduction of the new RB700 tone arm gives massive sound quality improvements over previous models. Adding the optional power supply gleans far more music from the groove, makes the power supply almost mandatory. I have not heard vinyl replay at this price point sound so good. There's very little in the way of surface noise due to extremely tight tolerances of the tone arm. To put it simply, one of the finest turntables I have heard. AudioEnz review

John Ransley, Totally Wired, Dunedin

This isn't really a recommendation for specific products. It's about making you think about getting a new record player. Either you used to play records and just gradually moved to CD. Or you regard CDs as something your parents are into.

Vinyl records are all about music and the enthusiasm that should go with it. I'm not talking about some rare 'audiophile' discs but the new releases and used records you can ferret out if you bother to take the time. Sure it's an archaic format but wrap your ears the around the stuff and see what you think - there's a whole new generation of hiphop releases out there, scorching live LPs like Pacifier, enough Flying Nun LPs to fill a bin by themselves and plenty of more mainstream stuff (even Linkin Park sounds great on vinyl).

Okay, you get a few pops and scratches and you have to take a bit of care with LPs, but with analogue there is always more you can hear - all you have to do is apply a little commonsense to your hi-fi selections and setup.

Just as there are still new vinyl releases, so to are there new turntables And the price of entry isn't anymore than that of a iPod. Pro-ject  have looked back on the last 30 years of turntable design, plundered all the good ideas and put out a range that sound as modern as they look. Thorens have been around forever but all that experience goes a long way when it comes to making great sounding turntables.

With nice new models like these and other brands around, you'd have to really know your stuff to come up with better sound from a secondhand unit. Far too many old turntables are well worn and by the time you replace the stylus or cartridge, belt and whatever else is worn, you may as well have just got a new one.

Any turntable sounds a whole lot better when it's set up as per instructions. Put it on something level that doesn't jump around and be a bit tidy with where you run cables - it all helps and you'll hear the difference. Don't use sprays or liquids on your LPs - just a little carbon fibre brush is fine. Play your records as often and as loud as you like. But above all, go out there and buy yourself records whenever you can - if enough of us do this then they will continue to be sold.